Lunch’d Deliveroo – Bournemouth

Oli is one of the most charismatic souls I’ve had the pleasure of meeting. His sense of humour (which has me in screams) is only trumped by his fantastic ability to bring worlds flavours and fresh, local ingredients together in beautiful lunchtime combinations.

His brand, Lunch’d has long been the favourite of local agencies and businesses who get his lunch boxes delivered to their offices on a weekly basis. Then he scaled up and began to offer his catering to large events and conferences on the scene, which (as opposed to giving everyone a chronic case of bloating) nourished both souls and minds (and also mouths).

But perhaps the most exciting development in the Lunch’d journey to-date is the recent announcement of its arrival on Deliveroo for city-dwelling residents in Bournemouth (within a 1.8 mile radius from their kitchen at Canvas, to be precise).

As one of my favourite plant-based chefs, I caught up with him to taste test his new vegan hot box selection and talk all things vegetables. First, let’s dive into the exciting part: the food.

He’s currently offering a 2 for £10 deal on his hot boxes and the kitchen is open from 11am to 8pm daily, so what’s on offer?

Moussaka in a vegan béchamel sauce with quinoa salad

This was such a delicious treat for dinner – when vegan options have a flavoursome creamy alternative, it’s like heaven. Beautiful béchamel sauce, thick layers of thinly sliced veg and houmous and quinoa salad compliments it beautifully. Nice lunch option too 9/10

Sweet potato chilli, rice and fresh guacamole salad

I’m a fiend for chilli and we make it all the time at home. Great flavours, beautiful chunky sweet potato in there to give great texture that will leave you feeling satisfied. I actually felt like the fresh guacamole salad stole the show in the combination as it’s hard work making lettuce so exciting – fresh, fresh, fresh. It made me feel good about my life choices. 8/10

Panang Pad Thai

I’ve had this meal before so I already knew about the distinctive Lunch’d flavour explosion he’s crafted. If you, like me, like your noodle hot and tangy – this is hands down the winner. Without giving the recipe away, I suspect a healthy lashing of sriracha comes into play. This option feels most like a treat so if it’s your first time trying Oli’s food, I’d start with this one 10/10 (!)

To add some texture, the magic of Oli’s cooking has a lot to do with his mantra around cooking with plants. He has a (very sensible) outlook when it comes to the benefits of cooking with plants and reducing or ideally removing animal products from your diet. He has a genuine enthusiasm for vegan cooking and that’s what translates into his meals.

Oli explains, “I think we’re really behind in the UK. California and Australia have been creating amazing vegan food for years. These days, vegan food being vegan isn’t good enough – my food is tasty first and healthy second.”

“Back in the 70s and 80s, healthy vegan food was just for the hippies but now there’s so much competition in this space, food brands and restaurants can’t be defined by being vegan – the food has to taste great and I think across the board, it could be a lot better.”

And so, to conclude…

Lunch’d is slow food for fast humans. A fantastic local kitchen that uses fresh local ingredients to cook up incredible, mouth-watering vegan meals which you can now order through Deliveroo (in Bournemouth) or order to your office in bulk directly: lunchd.co.uk.